The streaming media company's latest shows are a hit, and investors like what they see

Wall Street's love affair with Netflix is on again. The streaming-media company's stock soared to more than five times its price the same time a year ago after it announced strong earnings on Oct. 21. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who pocketed about $645 million after selling a portion of his Netflix shares the next day, tweeted, "I want to thank the Netflix team for a job well done."

What rekindled the fire? For one, Netflix quadrupled its earnings year over year. More impressive: the company revealed that it now has more than 40 million subscribers worldwide. With 29.9 million paying customers...